Spring Festival 2009

University of Saskatchewan
John Mitchell Building
May 25 - 30, 2009

All readings will take place at the U of S
Theatre Department (John Mitchell Building)

Please click on the titles for more info about the plays and playwrights

May 25th 8 p.m. – Random Acts
by James Misfeldt
directed by Conni Massing

May 26th 8 p.m. – My Rabbi
by Joel Bernbaum
directed by Michael Shamata

May 27th 8 p.m. – Diligence
by Cheryl Jack
directed by Stephen Heatley

May 28th 8 p.m. – Singing the Farmers Market Blues
by Betty Ternier Daniels
directed by Conni Massing

May 29th 8 p.m. – Interrogating the Sphinx
by Ian Nelson
directed by Amy Lynn Strilchuk

May 30th 8 p.m. – Curtain Call
(An Exchange Play from Alberta Playwrights' Network)
by Blaine Newton
directed by Johnna Wright

May 30th (Following Curtain Call) – Two Rooms
by Mansel Robinson
directed by Michael Shamata

And the plays are . . .

Two Rooms
by Mansel Robinson

Murdoch is a white cop. His young wife is Muslim. Two rooms, two confessions …

Mansel has been writer-in-residence at the Berton House in Dawson City, the University of Windsor, the Regina Pubic Library and most recently at the Surrey Public Library. He is currently working on a group commission for Blythe Theatre in Ontario. Bite The Hand, produced in 2008 at Persephone Theatre, will be published by Scirocco Drama in 2009. Ghost Trains and Spitting Slag, translated into French by Jean Marc Dalpe, were short-listed for the 2008 Governor General's award in the translation category. Two Rooms is Mansel's ninth play to be workshopped at Spring Festival. He lives in Saskatoon.

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Interrogating the Sphinx
by Ian Nelson

A dyed-in-the-wool classical actor and a method actor blind beyond the footlights meet on a beach. Amidst an artistic debate they dig up an actress longing to reprise her role as Beckett's Winnie. Will they find Happy Days? Or will an intrusive Arab throw a rhinoceros into the plot? "A veritable feast of the absurd."

Bio:

Bilingual director, dramaturge and actor Ian C. Nelson has written, translated and adapted a number of plays. Double Blind (written in collaboration with Kevin Power) was in the 2003 Spring Festival. The Armoured Heart (published in Write On! Theatre Saskatchewan Anthology) he translated into French under the title Le Coeur blindé. Après le deluge appears in volume 3 of Le Théâtre Fransaskois. Le Sablier, the original French version of this play has been broadcast on Radio Canada and is slated for publication in a future volume of the Le Théâtre Fransaskois anthology. Ian is also author of The Scarlet Coat Serial.

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Singing the Farmers Market Blues
by Betty Ternier-Daniels  

Alexandra sells at the Battle Creek Farmers Market. Rick owns the market site. When he threatens to sell to Wal-Mart, Alex campaigns to save the land from development. She hadn't reckoned on falling in love. Rick hadn't expected his estranged wife to want him back. In the ensuing battle, romance and idealism collide.

Bio:

Farmers Market Blues is the first in a trilogy that reflects Betty’s love for rural Saskatchewan. Temporarily transplanted to an acreage east of Saskatoon, she continues to spend summers on the family farm near North Battleford. During the past dozen or so years she’s written and directed for community theatre, taught English and drama as a sessional instructor, and pursued a lifelong interest in gardening and food. She and her husband have two adult children, a dog and two cats.

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Diligence
by Cheryl Jack  

Toby is found in a field, naked, shivering and cold. He believes he has shifted and is capable of being in two places at once. Martha, his sister is beside herself: another member of her family has decided to check out. People tell her life will be fine, but it's not. It's not fine.

Bio:

Cheryl co-wrote the play Lou for the Saskatoon Fringe Festival in 1998. Cheryl's script, Out In The Cold, was workshopped and given a public reading at the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre's Spring Festival in 2004. She adapted this piece for CBC radio, and it was broadcast in 2006. Her film version of Out In The Cold premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in October of 2008 and has played at numerous film festivals throughout North America. Cheryl's most recent stage play, At the End Of Her Rope, had its world premiere at Persephone Theatre in March of 2008. Cheryl attended the National Theatre School of Canada and graduated from the Acting section. She has been a theatre artist for many years and is a member of the Playwright's Guild of Canada.

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Random Acts
by James Misfeldt
 

In a world of random acts where there are no hard distinctions between what is real and unreal, life becomes a computer game where a woman on the mall parking lot can be blown away, justice is arbitrary and life-and-death depends on Russian roulette.

Bio:

In a number of plays, from Another Zoo Story and Birds of Paradise, to A Promising Career and Swamp Fever, and now, Random Acts, plus the novels "Blue Angel" and "On A Slow Boat To China", James has been searching for a new realism which moves beyond separate subjective realities to a shared inter-subjective reality from which we can ground truth and justice for all.

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My Rabbi
by Joel Bernbaum

My Rabbi was conceived from frustration. Religion seems too often to push us apart as opposed to bringing us together. Developed over beers in theatre school, in collaboration with Kayvon Khoshkam, My Rabbi follows two Saskatoon high school buddies as they journey to find and maintain connection to their religions, families and to each other.

Bio:

Born and raised in Saskatoon, Joel is excited to return home after working and studying out of province. A graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts and the Carleton University School of Journalism, Joel recently workshopped his play Operation Big Rock at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, and spent the winter performing in Seussical the Musical and The Big League with Vancouver's Carousel Theatre. He is honoured to be participating in his first Spring Festival.

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Festival Dramaturg 2009

Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre is thrilled to announce James DeFelice as the dramaturg for Spring Festival 2009. To read more about Jim, please click here.
 

SPRING FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS
Since 1983, the Saskatchewan Playwrights' Centre has held an annual Spring Festival of New Plays either in Regina or Saskatoon. Spring Festival is the highlight of our year.  We bring in directors and dramaturgs from across the country to work with our playwrights and actors in workshops that range from 2-6 days and culminate in a staged public reading.  
 
The scripts are chosen, in a blind competition, by the Festival Dramaturg.
 
The competition is open to all SPC Playwright members.
 
Plays chosen for Spring Festival are offered a one-day pre-festival workshop, one-on-one dramaturgical support, and are workshopped for 2-6 days during Festival week with a director/dramaturg and a group of actors and then given a public reading.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
 
*   Plays must be written by playwright members of the SPC in good standing.

*    This is a BLIND competition - so no identifying markings should appear on the script itself.  The playwright’s name and contact information should appear on a separate cover page for office use only (see sample Spring Festival Format).

*    Plays MUST BE IN STANDARD PLAY FORMAT - see sample Spring Festival Format

*    Playwrights may also submit notes discussing aspects of the script they are currently working to improve, but these notes must not contain any identifying markings.

* Email submissions are not currently accepted.

* Translations are not considered new plays and are therefore not eligible.


Yearly Deadline: October 31
 
Playwrights Notified:  Early January

Festival Held: Mid May
 
Location: alternates between Regina and Saskatoon.
 
Mail scripts to:
SPC
Box 3092
Saskatoon SK  S7K 3S9